Betrayed
by QueenTigris
Summary: Naruto betrays himself, breaking his own promise to himself and all of Konoha that he would be Hokage someday. Hints of SasuNaru. Rated for angsty themes, just to be safe. Sasukecentric. ONESHOT.


A/N: Sasuke character sketch... you kind of have to squint and think metaphorically for it to make sense.

**Betrayed  
**

* * *

The crowd was pathetically small, and too few people looked sad for Sasuke to think it appropriate for the occasion. Kakashi-sensei, the Hokage, Iruka-sensei... a Hyuuga girl lurked somewhere in the shadows; but only Iruka mourned openly, bawling his eyes out in front of the altar. Sasuke scowled at the sight of his previous sensei. Ninjas were to never show their emotions, that was ninja code.

* * *

"_Oi... Sasuke?"_

_Without lifting his head, the Uchiha glared through his eyelashes at the obnoxious blonde shifting nervously in the dirt before him._

_Naruto glanced down at his feet and scratched his head. "I... uh, can I ask a personal question?"_

"_Hn." he replied; he hid his curiosity over the fact that the usually loud blonde was acting unusually shy. It was probably over something stupid._

_The Uzumaki shifted his feet before looking up. "Have you... have you ever..."_

"_Spit it out." Sasuke growled._

_The blonde's fingers met in a classic Hinata maneuver. "Eh... I... um... I was just wondering if you'd... ever... a— ah..."_

_Sasuke intensified his glare._

"_Eh... Never mind!" He said quickly; Naruto stood up straight and suddenly his usually stupid grin was perfectly in place, as if it had never been gone._

_Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow as he watched his teammate make a quick retreat down the street.  
_

* * *

Sasuke closed his eyes against the memories, he grit his teeth to keep from screaming. Anger pulsated through his body, making him twitch. He had been betrayed. He had been betrayed by the person he least expected it from, again.

* * *

"_Sasuke-kuuun," Sakura cooed. "Would you like some?"_

"_Hn." He continued to chew methodically at his own lunch._

"_Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, I'll have some!"_

"_Shut up, Naruto! I made these for Sasuke-kun!"_

_Both Sasuke and Sakura failed to notice at the time that the blonde was unusually quiet for the rest of the day.  
_

* * *

Sasuke glared at the smooth black box on the podium. The lacquered surface gleamed, seeming to reflect his glare right back with the cool haughtiness only an inanimate object could achieve. 

Sasuke twitched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Leave me alone." he snapped.

"Sasuke-kun—" the sickening voice began.

He slapped the hand off his shoulder; he kept his face downcast lest anyone see the unshed tears that blurred his vision. "It was your fault!"

Sakura didn't seem to get the point. "What? Sasuke-kun, nobody could have— he had _problems_..."

"Shut up!" he yelled. "You could have done something! We could have—" his voice cracked. "This wasn't supposed to happen, he was supposed— he _promised_ he'd always be there— strong and smiling stupidly—" Something else, deep in his chest, cracked. "His dream..."

* * *

_Fate had deigned that Sasuke would be the first to stumble upon Naruto that day; in other words, Kakashi-sensei had ordered him to go to the blonde's apartment to see why he had been absent for that day's training._

_After searching the entire mess that Naruto called home, Sasuke had discovered the boy in the bathroom, a limp arm hanging over the rim of the tub._

_And suddenly, Sasuke had realized with a sickening implosion in his middle just what Naruto's "personal question" had been from the day before._

_Sasuke had then lost his lunch quite violently into Naruto's toilet.  
_

* * *

Sasuke kicked the offending box again, unheeding of the people attempting to hold him back or the pain in his foot. 

"Damn you, dobe! Baka!" A stream of insults raged from his mouth. "You just had to do it, didn't you? Usuratonkachi! You've betrayed us all! You broke your word! Your ninja way, idiot!" Sasuke had long lost track of the words that left his mouth.

He kicked at the box again, this time with enough force to break it, but the hands on his shoulders and arms yanked him back, making him miss his target. "Let me go, dammit! I'll kill him! I'll kill you, dobe, for betraying me!"

No one cared to point out the poor logic of such a statement as Sasuke continued to rage mindlessly against the black box.

The crowd dwindled as people left the spectacle silently, and those who stayed didn't make a sound as they watched Sasuke kick the vases of white carnations to the ground where they shattered and spread water all over the cold stones of the gloomy plaza. Tearless eyes watched with fascination and bemusement as the boy's rampage sent the sole picture of Naruto that could be found to the floor where the frame shattered.

Kakashi's one-eyed smile peered out from under the broken glass, his hands on the heads of a disdainful Sasuke and a glaring Naruto with Sakura smiling between.

Sasuke stomped on it.


End file.
